I recently changed my Afterburner Vortex backbox, back to the original PPP one.

I swear I can notice a difference in how the car performs.

At lower revs it seems to pull harder with good constant boost, although it dies off relatively earlier in the rev range than with the Vortex.

With the Vortex it doesn't seem to pull as hard earlier on in the rev range, but then all hell breaks loose and it flies round to the red line. Very exciting but not as drivable IMHO.

From what I've read and heard the Vortex is a good backbox, and though I know not to expect miracles from a backbox, I swear I could feel the difference. (You can definitely hear it!)


Can any of you techies or someone with similar experiences pass opinion on the above? I'm extremely curious if I am going round the bend, or if there is a technical reason for my observations.


My only other mod is a STi panel filter. (but thats another debate )


Cheers,

Dan

 

think its cos with the free flowing back box your car is actualy running week because of less back pressure and so you get a hesetation flat spot so to speak then as the revs rise and your turbo starts boosting you get a rush of power that feels more than it is cos your coming out of the flat spot to normal power levels . so in fact(perhaps) you have no more peak power but a hole in the bottom end solution get the fuel and ignition remapped to suit the amount of back pressure you now have and you will probably be better off by about 20%

 

Your car was mapped for the PPP exhaust, if you change the exhaust but not the map, you may have a detrimental effect on the performance. However, I'm sceptical about power gains with backboxes- their main effect is on the noise, which can hoodwink you into "seeing" differences that aren't really there.

Ns04

 

A car will NOT run weak due to only a back box change. The fuel (and ignition) will vary due to the load the ecu sees (mainly dependant on the MAF). The back box will not significantly alter that (unlike induction kit etc). It may hit very slighty different areas on the map but it won't cause weak running.

Tony.

 

From what I gather from these responses, a freer flowing backbox apart from noise would not improve performance for the better. (even slightly).

I would have thought with a slightly freer flow the ECU would be able to adapt slightly and give at the very least the same performance.

From all the tuning magazines I have read, the Scoob was one of the few cars that would get a performance gain from just an improved backbox.

I am not expecting big gains just a few bhp (hardly noticable), but as I say the car seemed nicer to drive with the PPP backbox, which was unexpected, over a nice Vortev performance backbox.

As someone said earlier, probabally down to the map. I suppose if I did get the car re-mapped specifically for the Vortex, then gains would be seen. (may as well do a bit more before the remap though )

Cheers for your comments chaps.

Dan

 

Yep, don't just remap to the back box!

Plus who said the Vortex flows better than the PPP back box ?

Tony.

 

 

It is a straighter pipe than the prodrive one but who knows!

Am also going by manufacturer claims and their published dyno results!

Anyone rolling roaded just a Vortex backbox..? Probabally not